Learning How To Art
Thoughts On: Logos & Pnuema
A consideration of the creation and expression of art.
There is a common notion in martial arts that one must prepare their body for the event of a fight. Training and practice then go out the window the moment a fight starts. Instinct takes over and the body performs what it has been taught to do so. It is possible to see in this not only the basis of martial arts, but all arts. What transforms discipline, skill and actions into art is the embodiment and expression of the depth, substance and meaning of that discipline, skill and action. Seen in this light, art is the presentation of a philosophy of being.
This idea is rather self-evident in martial arts, but slightly more ambiguous in a medium such as cinema. Martial arts requires two (or more) individuals interacting via combat. Their communication is physical and enclosed within their relationship. Cinema requires a piece of work and an audience as to make its artistic expression. This relationship is an open and abstract one. However, there is much to learn from its relationship with 'training'. As with fighting in martial arts, the moment of expression - the screening - of cinema relies heavily upon instinct, flow and automatism. Thinking has its place in this moment of expression, but, it is a secondary process; thought follows sensation, only to be closely followed by sensation again. This cycle subordinates thought to instinct, consciousness to the unconscious. Such a situation is unlike other activities in which we think and then do. Of course, artistic creation or expression requires premeditation. A film must be planned and thought through. However, creation and expression are two separate process in art. The creation and cultivation of artistic material involves the rationalising of sensation. The expression or performance of this sees sensation's rationality presented. In music, the cultivation of skill - the ability to play an instrument and understand musical theory - involves conscious practice and training. As music is played, however, consciousness is replaced by unconsciousness, and the performance exudes the ascertained logic and essence of the objects and concepts studied. When a great guitarist then plays, it is not scales and picking techniques that are presented, but the essence of a certain sound, its meaning and ability to move others. The study of the technique is a journey to the depths of its existential and universal place and meaning in the world.
In cinema, a similar process sees the logos and pneuma of a film created. This process is multifaceted and far too complicated for me to pretend to understand. Nonetheless, part of this process involves the disciplinary study of writers, choreographers, performers, directors, cinematographers and more. Writers' objects of study concern ideas, characters, plots, dialogue, rhythm, structure and more. Part of a film's expression is then involved in evoking the essence of the logic within a certain idea, a certain vision of individuality, of a succession of space, time and causality, of sound, flow and more. In addition to the contributions of a writer are those of the cinematographer, whose object of study is light, colour, composition, texture, exposure, tone and more. So, in a film there is presented too the immanent substance of certain hues, light temperatures, tones and more. These myriad of elements and more all have vast, deep and dark implications. They reach down through the collective unconscious and they emerge from Tao. Resonant, powerful art has a chance of revealing this fact. The spectator has a chance to perceive it. But, to perceive art, the spectator, too, needs their training. A fight needs at least two individuals. Cinema needs work and an audience. The spectator completes the cinematic space, and in turn play their part in the expression of art. Because the spectator, too, expresses, they must go through a cultivation or creation process. Film spectating is a discipline. The notion of cinema-as-entertainment may make this assertion seem trivial, but, all spectators needs to have a skill or discipline to engage cinematic material. After all, how could we be moved by a movie if we did not understand its plot, characters, themes and more? Our mind has to do some amount of work to make sense of a film, and, as anyone who has re-watched and studied a film will know, this takes attention: the process is a continuous one. This is part of the reason as to why films change to us over time. We learn more about them and see more in them as a result of our own study and attention.
We see here, then, how a cinematic experience is something like a fight. Whilst the aim of artistic expression in a cinema is not dominance or victory, it requires two disinclined subjects communicating and interacting with, or exchanging, skills. What is expressed here depends on the subjects involved in this interaction and skill and discipline. In cinema, the traces of practice, skill and disciplined are encapsulated in a film's - or rather, a cinematic experience's - logos. This is the trace of a conscious study of a certain object. Most fundamentally, it is the trace of one's interface with Tao. Pnuema is what is unconsciously expressed in the performance of skill and discipline. Pneuma encapsulates the essence of the object - or, at least, the ascertained essence of a studied object. This is to say that, though an object may be studied, only a certain level of its depth or a fraction of its breadth may have been comprehended and translated through performance. The relationship between the cultivation and expression of skill is a nuanced one. When we watch a fight on TV, we are seeing captured performances. The television broadcast and the fight are two different modes of expression complimenting one another. Is this true of cinema?
A performer on film expresses their art in a take of a shot or scene. But, does their artistic expression end here? I find it hard to know how to answer this question. Certainly the performance is over and the actor or actress has completed their job. Having shot all of their scenes, they can only be a spectator of their art. However, their expression is not substantiated, completed, until a film is screened. So, cinematic expression starts on the set, but cannot end when a performer has finished performing. Cinema starts with an idea and ends with a screening. If we consider every artist involved in the creation of cinema a 'filmmaker,' then we can comfortably say that their process of artistic creation starts and ends as a film is put into production; their expression, on the other hand, does not start until the screening of the final product does. To answer the question of whether a performer's artistic expression ends when their take does then relies on how we think of that performer: are they an actor or actress and is their art acting - or, are they a filmmaker, and is their art cinema? I lean toward the notion that everyone involved in the creation of a film (including the spectator) is a 'filmmaker'. However, their is a long debate about auteurship and authorship in cinema that is very complicated. But, it need not impinge upon my final point.
Every artistic agent contributing toward the expression of a film engages the same process in the moment of expression. They feel and then think and then feel again cyclically. This oscillation between consciousness and unconsciousness is what manifest drama; it is a movement between expressing pnuema and logos; it is breathing and rationalising. This movement also manifests genre as emerging from unconsciousness and consciousness is the presentation of the real and unreal. The unconscious-conscious relationship is one of the fundamental yin-yang phenomena that emerge from an interaction with Tao. Logos and pneuma are the final cosmetic state of the yin-yang phenomena. In fact, it is the unification of yin and yang that produce affect and then inter-objectivity. Alas, the discussion is becoming highly technical and dense. This is a topic I'd like to return to, but, for now we can begin to see that one must learn to 'art'. Expression is dependent on cultivation and training. This training defines the moment of expression by an oscillation between an unconscious channelling of the immanence of an object studied and a conscious consideration of said object. Such formulates the ambiguous concepts of logos and pneuma that require far more attention.
A consideration of the creation and expression of art.
There is a common notion in martial arts that one must prepare their body for the event of a fight. Training and practice then go out the window the moment a fight starts. Instinct takes over and the body performs what it has been taught to do so. It is possible to see in this not only the basis of martial arts, but all arts. What transforms discipline, skill and actions into art is the embodiment and expression of the depth, substance and meaning of that discipline, skill and action. Seen in this light, art is the presentation of a philosophy of being.
This idea is rather self-evident in martial arts, but slightly more ambiguous in a medium such as cinema. Martial arts requires two (or more) individuals interacting via combat. Their communication is physical and enclosed within their relationship. Cinema requires a piece of work and an audience as to make its artistic expression. This relationship is an open and abstract one. However, there is much to learn from its relationship with 'training'. As with fighting in martial arts, the moment of expression - the screening - of cinema relies heavily upon instinct, flow and automatism. Thinking has its place in this moment of expression, but, it is a secondary process; thought follows sensation, only to be closely followed by sensation again. This cycle subordinates thought to instinct, consciousness to the unconscious. Such a situation is unlike other activities in which we think and then do. Of course, artistic creation or expression requires premeditation. A film must be planned and thought through. However, creation and expression are two separate process in art. The creation and cultivation of artistic material involves the rationalising of sensation. The expression or performance of this sees sensation's rationality presented. In music, the cultivation of skill - the ability to play an instrument and understand musical theory - involves conscious practice and training. As music is played, however, consciousness is replaced by unconsciousness, and the performance exudes the ascertained logic and essence of the objects and concepts studied. When a great guitarist then plays, it is not scales and picking techniques that are presented, but the essence of a certain sound, its meaning and ability to move others. The study of the technique is a journey to the depths of its existential and universal place and meaning in the world.
In cinema, a similar process sees the logos and pneuma of a film created. This process is multifaceted and far too complicated for me to pretend to understand. Nonetheless, part of this process involves the disciplinary study of writers, choreographers, performers, directors, cinematographers and more. Writers' objects of study concern ideas, characters, plots, dialogue, rhythm, structure and more. Part of a film's expression is then involved in evoking the essence of the logic within a certain idea, a certain vision of individuality, of a succession of space, time and causality, of sound, flow and more. In addition to the contributions of a writer are those of the cinematographer, whose object of study is light, colour, composition, texture, exposure, tone and more. So, in a film there is presented too the immanent substance of certain hues, light temperatures, tones and more. These myriad of elements and more all have vast, deep and dark implications. They reach down through the collective unconscious and they emerge from Tao. Resonant, powerful art has a chance of revealing this fact. The spectator has a chance to perceive it. But, to perceive art, the spectator, too, needs their training. A fight needs at least two individuals. Cinema needs work and an audience. The spectator completes the cinematic space, and in turn play their part in the expression of art. Because the spectator, too, expresses, they must go through a cultivation or creation process. Film spectating is a discipline. The notion of cinema-as-entertainment may make this assertion seem trivial, but, all spectators needs to have a skill or discipline to engage cinematic material. After all, how could we be moved by a movie if we did not understand its plot, characters, themes and more? Our mind has to do some amount of work to make sense of a film, and, as anyone who has re-watched and studied a film will know, this takes attention: the process is a continuous one. This is part of the reason as to why films change to us over time. We learn more about them and see more in them as a result of our own study and attention.
We see here, then, how a cinematic experience is something like a fight. Whilst the aim of artistic expression in a cinema is not dominance or victory, it requires two disinclined subjects communicating and interacting with, or exchanging, skills. What is expressed here depends on the subjects involved in this interaction and skill and discipline. In cinema, the traces of practice, skill and disciplined are encapsulated in a film's - or rather, a cinematic experience's - logos. This is the trace of a conscious study of a certain object. Most fundamentally, it is the trace of one's interface with Tao. Pnuema is what is unconsciously expressed in the performance of skill and discipline. Pneuma encapsulates the essence of the object - or, at least, the ascertained essence of a studied object. This is to say that, though an object may be studied, only a certain level of its depth or a fraction of its breadth may have been comprehended and translated through performance. The relationship between the cultivation and expression of skill is a nuanced one. When we watch a fight on TV, we are seeing captured performances. The television broadcast and the fight are two different modes of expression complimenting one another. Is this true of cinema?
A performer on film expresses their art in a take of a shot or scene. But, does their artistic expression end here? I find it hard to know how to answer this question. Certainly the performance is over and the actor or actress has completed their job. Having shot all of their scenes, they can only be a spectator of their art. However, their expression is not substantiated, completed, until a film is screened. So, cinematic expression starts on the set, but cannot end when a performer has finished performing. Cinema starts with an idea and ends with a screening. If we consider every artist involved in the creation of cinema a 'filmmaker,' then we can comfortably say that their process of artistic creation starts and ends as a film is put into production; their expression, on the other hand, does not start until the screening of the final product does. To answer the question of whether a performer's artistic expression ends when their take does then relies on how we think of that performer: are they an actor or actress and is their art acting - or, are they a filmmaker, and is their art cinema? I lean toward the notion that everyone involved in the creation of a film (including the spectator) is a 'filmmaker'. However, their is a long debate about auteurship and authorship in cinema that is very complicated. But, it need not impinge upon my final point.
Every artistic agent contributing toward the expression of a film engages the same process in the moment of expression. They feel and then think and then feel again cyclically. This oscillation between consciousness and unconsciousness is what manifest drama; it is a movement between expressing pnuema and logos; it is breathing and rationalising. This movement also manifests genre as emerging from unconsciousness and consciousness is the presentation of the real and unreal. The unconscious-conscious relationship is one of the fundamental yin-yang phenomena that emerge from an interaction with Tao. Logos and pneuma are the final cosmetic state of the yin-yang phenomena. In fact, it is the unification of yin and yang that produce affect and then inter-objectivity. Alas, the discussion is becoming highly technical and dense. This is a topic I'd like to return to, but, for now we can begin to see that one must learn to 'art'. Expression is dependent on cultivation and training. This training defines the moment of expression by an oscillation between an unconscious channelling of the immanence of an object studied and a conscious consideration of said object. Such formulates the ambiguous concepts of logos and pneuma that require far more attention.
